LINGUIST List 8.948

Fri Jun 27 1997

Qs: Quantification, Langacker, Yaghnobi

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Q: Terminological question: Quantification
Dear Linguists,
I am posting this query on behalf of the Basque Language Academy's
grammar commission, and would welcome your opinions and suggestions on
the latest of numerous problems of grammatical terminology that we
encounter periodically in the process of compiling our large-scale,
multi-volume Basque grammar. Answers sent to me will be summarised on
this list.
Our present problem is the following:
In previous volumes of the grammar we have employed [a Basque
translation equivalent of] "quantifier" to refer to items that can
determine a noun phrase such as 'many', 'some', 'how many?', 'so many'
etc. We have also been referring to items such as 'very', 'rather',
'how' and 'so' which modify adjectives or adverbs as "degree
modifiers". Thus:
QUANTIFIERS:
(1) There are MANY students.
(2) There are SO MANY students.
DEGREE MODIFIERS:
(3) The students are VERY intelligent.
(4) The students are SO intelligent.
To some of us in the grammar commission it seems acceptable to refer
to the functions of ALL the items mentioned, collectively, as
"quantification". Why would we wish to refer to them all
collectively? Well, we are currently discussing sentences like the
following, known as consecutive sentences:
(5) There were SO MANY students that we needed a larger classroom.
(6) The students were SO intelligent that we needed to get another
teacher.
There has been a proposal among us to state in the grammar that
sentences like both (5) and (6) express a "quantification" (this being
a characteristic of consecutive sentences), and that the main clauses
in these examples (i.e. the first clauses) contain "quantifiers".
However, others on the commission find this terminology unfortunate
given the differentiation, mentioned above, between quantifiers on the
one hand (such as the one capitalized in (5)) and degree modifiers on
the other (like that capitalized in (6)).
The question is: Is it recommendable to use
"quantification"/"quantifier" to refer to both (5) and (6)? AND: If
not, then is there a better term that could be used in its place? Or,
more generally: How can we refer collectively to such constructions as
(5) and (6) in a way that captures what they have in common in terms
of their "? quantifying" sense?
We look forward to all your suggestions!
Alan R. King, Ph.D.
alankingbigfoot.com
Alternative email addresses:
mccayredestb.es, aeirelink.com, 70244.1674compuserve.com
SNAIL: Orkolaga plaza 3 1A, 20800 Zarautz, Basque Country, Spain
PHONE: +34-43-134125 / FAX: +34-43-130396
and...
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